B1+Gerunds, infinitives and reporting verbs

Gerund or infinitive patterns

Choose gerund or infinitive after verbs and recognize important meaning changes with remember, forget, stop, try and regret.

Overview

What this grammar does

Choose gerund or infinitive after verbs and recognize important meaning changes with remember, forget, stop, try and regret.

Form and rules

How it works

Some verbs normally take -ing, others take to-infinitive, so learn their complementation patterns.

Remember/forget doing looks back at a memory; remember/forget to do concerns a necessary action.

Stop doing means end an activity; stop to do means pause another activity for a purpose.

Try doing suggests an experiment/possible solution; try to do emphasizes effort to achieve something.

Regret doing looks back with regret; regret to say/tell/inform is a formal way to introduce bad news.

A closer look

Meaning and use

Try doing suggests an experiment/possible solution; try to do emphasizes effort to achieve something.

Regret doing looks back with regret; regret to say/tell/inform is a formal way to introduce bad news.

Examples

See the pattern in complete sentences

I remember meeting her years ago.

Remember to lock the door.

He stopped smoking.

Try restarting the computer.

I regret to inform you that the application was unsuccessful.

Common mistakes

What to avoid

Remember turning off as memory of past the lights before you leave.

Remember to turn off the lights before you leave.

The sentence reminds someone about a future/necessary action.

I remember to see future task that film as a child.

I remember seeing that film as a child.

The speaker is recalling a past experience, so use -ing.

Ready to practise?

The test combines multiple choice, gap completion, error correction, and sentence building so students have to recognise and produce the grammar, not simply reread the rule.

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